That's bound to turn a lot of people off. Still, the level of hatred Stickland has inspired from state's cops is pretty impressive. Last month the Texas Municipal Police Association, the state's largest law enforcement group, labeled him "one of the worst State Representatives in Texas history," who has showed a "total disregard for the safety of our children."

Yesterday several more police groups joined the growing anti-Stickland chorus: the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, the Fort Worth Police Association, the Arlington Police Association and the Dallas Police Association, which isn't even in Stickland's district.

"When law enforcement officers asked for his help in protecting our families, Jonathan Stickland turned his back on us and repeatedly voted against the safety and welfare of Texas children," the groups wrote in a statement. "He is one of the least capable lawmakers we have in the Texas House and we strongly urge Republicans to vote him out of office in the March 4 primary."

So what precisely did Stickland to to incur the wrath of so many cops? Their grievances center on a handful of bills Stickland opposed them on.

One, HB 1010, was aimed at preemptively catching sexual predators by banning so-called grooming behavior. Specifically, it would have become a crime to "intentionally or knowingly cause physical contact with a child that a reasonable person would regard as offensive and sexual in nature and likely to precede sexual conduct constituting a sexual or assaultive offense."

Another, HB 124, which was passed and signed by Governor Perry, added Salvia divinorum, a hallucinogen formerly widely available at convenience stores and head shops, to Texas' list of controlled substances. A third bill, which Stickland voted for, would, in the words of the DPA, "make it tougher for law enforcement to find and rescue abducted children."

Stickland was far from the only House member to oppose law enforcement on these measures. There were 20 nays on the grooming ban, 17 for Salvia. In addition to Stickland, five others voted against both bills, two Democrats (Borris Miles and Toni Rose) and three Tea Party Republicans (David Simpson, Matt Schaefer and Bryan Hughes).

All of them presumably opposed the measures for libertarian reasons. The language in the child predator bill is awfully vague. (How can anyone tell if touching is "likely to precede sexual conduct" unless the sexual conduct actually occurs?) And there probably are other ways to keep Salvia out of the hands of our children that doesn't involve outlawing it completely.

Perhaps Stickland foresaw the attacks but searched his conscience and voted no on principle. A rare and admirable trait, but are minor bills targeting sexual predators and hallucinogenic drugs really the best place to take a stand?

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It's pretty sad that there aren't people in the system with the ability ( or even the common sense) to pick up on behaviors that trigger a feeling of discomfort that allows one to detect inappropriate "grooming" acts that would attract attention to the matter and possibly prevent an atrocious event against a child. A father dusting crumbs off his kid, the act itself, shouldn't trigger alarms to another person with a clue. If it was creepy and created that sort of vibe, then so what if the man was approached, then the child defended the action. Better that scenario then the alternative. The officer says sorry, but it's the law, and I'm obliged to follow the guidelines for the protection of you and your children. Have a nice day. Any legislation to prevent child abuse is never a bad thing. Law enforcement should have more issues with offenses and dealing with the crimes that happened to the children, NOT something that could prevent those crimes. They're too devastating to the victims lives and go on to perpetuate negative effects on Society. It's a cycle. Victims of child abuse rarely heal completely and more often than not become abusers themselves. Very sad, and prevention is key.

I know of a father who was brushing breakfast crumbs off his son's coat at a bus stop one morning when a car pulled to a stop. A Dallas detective stepped out and accused the father of sexually abusing the child and threatened to take him in. Fortunately the child protested and the detective decided he didn't have grounds for an arrest and left after warning the parent.

Under this law the father would certainly have been arrested and the family would have spent the rest of the day sorting things out at the police department.

With sincere apologies to the DO, and readers! took Myrna's bait, and read the list, which contains many repetitions, both verbatim and re-worded. That helps bulk up the BS.

I responded to a brief sample, to illustrate how insipid this approach is.

---President Obama wasn't born in the United States"----

His authors bio, which is written or approved by the author - lists his birthplace as Kenya.

--- "President Obama is a Kenyan"---

Repetition helps flood the zone. See above

----"President Obama is Indonesion----

When Obama’s mother married her second husband and moved to Indonesia, he adopted Obama, making him a citizen of Indonesia. In school he was listed as Muslim.

Incidentally, both my older brothers were born in Indonesia, granting them Indonesian citizenship until age 18 (or 21, do not recall), at which point they could choose to retain that citizenship or not. They chose not.

---"President Obamais soft on terrorism"---

A statement of opinion. Can opinions be lies?

--- "President Obama is a terrorist" ----

Terrorism charges were filed in Egypt, by Muslim lawyers. Several Muslims refer to him as a terrorist. Louis Farakhan accuses him as well.

----"President Obama won't protect the country"---

Opinion. Ask Ambassador Stevens, as embassies are considered "territory".

-----President Obama is a Muslim sympathizer"---

Immediate blame and arrest of an American for Benghazi.

----""We are fighting terrorists in Iraq"---

Research the group known as "Al-Qaida in Iraq". Research the first WTC bombing.

---- "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" ----

Banner hung from bridge of US carrier celebrating the end if their mission, which had been accomplished.

And on and on. Never let it be said that when it comes to manning the front lines of shoveling bullshit, Myrna is a real trooper. SDS indeed, Vietnam vets probably love you like they loved Fonda and Kerry., but it was the Chi-Coms who took your virginity.

"A third bill, which Stickland voted for, would, in the words of the DPA,
"make it tougher for law enforcement to find and rescue abducted
children." Nice. Which bill? When a Police Association whose members are not unknown to be a bit overzealous in executing warrants, some of which are sketchy to start with, makes this claim, I want to know which of OUR rights they want to have an easier time trampling.

All the things they talk about are reasons for me to support him. Hell, for that matter, with the way cops are acting, anything the cop unions/associations oppose is something for me to support, and vice versa.

The "grooming" bill is obviously prone to abuse by
authorities and paranoid parents... or spiteful ex-spouses. There's no way to differentiate between affectionate behavior and "pre-abuse".

When a child wants to be picked up
and held, you pick them up, they wrap their legs around you and you hold
them under their butt - it's about the only way to do it. Suddenly
this act carried out hundreds of times a day by parents, relatives, nannies,
babysitters, coaches, etc. is "grooming for abuse" if some "reasonable person" wants it
to be.

Myrna, such a good little tool, knows how to flood the zone, knowing that no-one is going to spend hours to counter what some lefty website has created for her, even though each and every canned issue presented has another side.

One suspects that anyone proud of being a youthful tool for communists killing her peers is a reliable life-long tool.

We're I to post a canned tactic for those unable to think for themselves, I'd be pilloried for such an obvious and weak tactic.

Flooding the zone is also a governmental tactic, knowing the wheels of government are too slow to,keep up with a rapid series of questionably legal tactics.

Folks like Myrna, in earlier times, were the tools of totalitarians, and as is the nature of those tools, the first to suffer at the hands of the totalitarians they supported.

Enjoy that swim to Cuba hon, and have fun with the PDAs with your girlfriend in Gaza! Ta-ta, little tool.

@bvckvs@observist While I completely disagree that it's uniquely conservative behavior, I agree that the example you give is most likely inappropriate, but I doubt the bill would adequately distinguish pre-abuse from legitimate contact. It would amount to a subjective "I know it when I see it" that could be egregiously over-used by authorities.

Tdk with all due lack of respect, your mindless cheerleading of an obviously unintelligent person while exhibiting no original thought whatsoever is probably not helping Myrna fool herself or anyone else.

No, bvckvs. I am not looking forward to being charged with a crime against my grandson. To repeat: not.

When I wrote that, it never crossed my mind that somebody would take me literally. My fault. I keep forgetting that irony in America died sometime during the 1970s. We now must communicate with each other in the kind of bland, earnest tones that once marked the utterances of school marms and chairmen of Chambers of Commerce.

So, bvckvs, lest there be any misunderstanding -- I do not want to be arrested for hugging, snuggling or otherwise physically interacting with my grandson. I do plan to have a good,life and allow him to have one as well. To that end, I will continue to hug, snuggle and physically interact with him in the faith that when the officers arrive to invstigate, they'll have more good sense than certain commenters on this forum.

I suspect bmarvel would put a whooping, physical, legal, or otherwise on such an accuser. Were it to go to trial and I got on the jury, I would hold out, even if I were the lone dissenter, against the hysterics. I would do my damnedest to get the jury to nullify such an abuse-prone law.

@bvckvs@observist Oh, right. Wendy Davis's campaign, the same people with the tough job of promoting that woman who accused Greg Abbott of faking injuries and using a wheel chair to win votes based on pity. She made the allegations twisting Ted Nugent's words, using a title of a song he wrote back in the 1970's to "legitimize" her accusations, again, trumped up lies, which were resolved, absolved, and cleared. Again, Wendy Davis busted for lying while trying to smear her formidable opponent. The woman had her kids taken away (temporarily, but never the less, it's a feat for a woman to lose custody of her children) and she's a pathological liar... Thanks for pointing out yet another falsified smear tactic by this unqualified woman who has nothing to run on but attempted character assassinating lies. Again - A Wendy Davis FAIL.